Life's Ups and Downs

You might be going up,
Like a mutual fund,
Each day you have a little dip downward,
Causing you confusion,

If you step back to see the big picture,
The line is positive,
But life is experience of each moment,
So every downward dip must still be lived,

Unless you choose to disconnect yourself,
There goes half of your days,
Plus sleep if you are getting full night's rests,
Not staying up stressed, late,

You could let slide,
Downturns as preparing,
To gather strength to push to the next tier,
Sounds like a life of toil and disparing.

What's Not Deep Fake?

I'm not a fake picture,
I've got all my fingers,
The people around me are not blurry,
Or seem ghostly figures,

I'm not in a location I'd not be,
If you know who I am.
Perception still controls reality,
Looking at a screen or holding my hand,

P'haps as A.I. continues to improve,
So will how humans feel,
We'll hone our discernment of what we see,
To intuit what's real.

Which is what now?
Well, make your own deep fake,
Believe the world's what you want it to be,
Then convince it to believe what you make.

If I Knew What I Know Now

What's old always is new,
When it comes back around,
Because people are really no diff'rent,
Far back as you can count,

They just didn't have the things we have now,
Like we don't have their things,
What do you think you would be doing now,
With no car, internet, or onion rings?

I am not sure I would change all that much,
'slong as I had a pen,
Or chisel and rock, or oration skills,
And a bed to lie in,

Oh, and a friend,
Did they have those back then?
Someone to talk to about life's wonder,
And help each other out of depression.

Congratulations!

Some days you just can't lose,
Would they could be each day,
When everywhere you turn you find good luck,
Maybe it is today,

The culmination of the days before,
Perhaps you did good deeds,
Without expectation of quid pro quo,
Like planting thoughts you didn't know were seeds,

It is the not knowing that really counts,
The key's to be sincere,
Not knowing that you know what the key is,
With completely no fear,

Or self-knowledge,
It's actually not fun,
You require more days of disappointment,
To appreciate the scattered fortune.

Keeping High While Low

I need to do something,
Even if it is this,
Sometimes it's hard to remember the fact,
That we for sure exist,

That that means no one can tell us we don't,
Nor tell us that we do,
Yes, you only have the moment at hand,
But does that provide you any real proof?

Or rather, what does this proof offer you?
Where is life's manual?
Oh, you have it, and it's all written down!
Starting with our first fall,

From grace, that is,
We've never since bounced back,
It's bad enough I've my own life to sort,
Somehow it was e'er ruined by some hack.

The One-Dimensional Man

You know Herbert Marcuse?
Well, I didn't either,
E'en though I've a philosophy degree,
And breathe the same ether,

It's like he described what we have become,
Some forty years before,
Enmeshed until we're one-dimensional,
A component automation's core,

No longer able to be what we were,
When there was still a hope,
Shining a light in our consciousnesses,
Now we can all just cope,

With what there is,
Which is beyond our grasp,
Unless we can manage to overcome,
Control of capitalism, at last.

Another Economic Save

It's a wonderful life,
If you are not a bank,
Who am I kidding, they're doing alright,
Yes, even though they tank,

The government won't let them go under,
They are too big to fail,
Just ask Obama in two thousand eight,
When folks were starving, who he chose to bail,

'cause folks don't have the ear of presidents,
They just close streets sometimes,
If you want to see politicians shake,
Threaten to raise the prime,

Something like that,
I do not even know,
What secret jargon the banker whispers,
In the ear of who's really in control.

Happy At Last

I'm so goddamn happy,
I am just letting loose,
Why not acknowledge that you just live once,
Then casu'lly light the fuse?

It's better to burn out than fade away,
Did I just make that up?
Avoid regret, believing in nothing,
You will forever have an half full cup,

It is that easy if you have the cash,
Live where you're not repressed,
Just joking, such a place does not exist,
Some countries just seem less,

But they're not,
You succumb to belong,
But don't worry, as long as you know this,
You can think you're happy and not be wrong.

Selective Outrage

Watched Selective Outrage,
I've always liked Chris Rock,
His joke 'bout charging 5k for bullets,
Still makes me laugh a lot,

He's fin'lly talking about Will Smith's slap,
He took it like Pacquiao,
You know, the Filipino senator,
Who sings the song Biyaheng Pag-Asa,

Chris says Will's anger preceded the hit,
Back to Red Table Talk,
Jada questioned him about her affair,
Then came the joke by Rock,

The show was good,
I did laugh all that much,
Thought maybe he'd go on about PacMan.
And reference his song, "Sometimes When We Touch.

I'm Not In The Mafia

Yes, I am Italian,
Though, born in Canada,
And despite what you think 'bout my culture,
Not in the mafia,

It might be possible I've known a few,
If rumours are believed,
Which if any of them are reading this,
They are laughing at my simplicity,

For who of us are so isolated,
That everyone we've met,
Have found success by playing by the rules?
If you've found any, yet,

Which you can't know,
Unless you're one of them,
In which case odds are someone that you know's,
Part of a suspect organization.

Why Not Wake Up?

What is wrong with wokeness?
I am not telling you,
If you know what it is and you don't know,
Then don't seek out that clue,

It's a seed of a thought that bears bad fruit,
That will then spoil the bunch,
Resisting the point by sharpening it,
Ruining an excellent learn and lunch,

Why not instead engage it in good faith,
Embrace the openness,
Assume that no topic is out of bounds,
As a given premise,

Then wait and see,
If you leave it to grow,
The search for equality should find you,
Which, be honest, is what you fear the most.